Lucien’s hand tightened on Callie’s hip. The four of them were also part of this fight, but they couldn’t handle what was happening in this room, and he knew Callie couldn’t handle it either.
However, when Killean stepped aside, Lucien led her into the room. She kept her chin held high but stiffened when she spotted the demon in the chair.
At some point during their interrogation of the thing, they’d removed its cloak to reveal the pale, hairless body of the maggot-like creature. Its bones stood out sharply against its nearly translucent skin, and when it lifted its head, its white eyes blazed with fury.
Bruises and burns mottled its pale skin. Lucien suspected the injuries were once much worse, but as he watched, the bruises faded. This thing was a fast healer.
The demon’s thin lips skimmed back as it bared its hooked fangs and started making a strange sound while its body shook. It took Lucien a minute to realize the creature was laughing.
Little unnerved him, but that laughter sent a chill down his spine. He had no idea what this monster found so amusing, and he didn’t want to know. He suspected he wouldn’t find it anywhere near as funny.
He held the creature’s gaze as Callie’s fingers bit into his back. It was the only reaction she had to the monster’s amusement, but Lucien sensed her distress and sought to calm it by reaching through their newly formed bond to comfort her.
Callie forced herself not to run from the room as the monster continued to stare at them while it laughed. She didn’t want to back down from this thing, but her gaze inadvertently darted toward the glass door and the women beyond. She wished she’d never entered this room.
Lucien had warned her about this creature, but she still wasn’t prepared for it. She had no idea what she expected before stepping inside here, but this wasn’t it. He’d told her about its appearance, but she’d still been envisaging something more like a vampire.
Lucien had told her how vampires came to walk this earth, but this thing was about as far from a vampire as it got. She felt sorry for the humans who mated with these things to create the hunter and vampire line. There was no way that joining was consensual.
This thing was worse than any painting or story she ever heard about Hell, yet those things hadn’t prepared her for this. This thing needed to die. She didn’t know why they’d kept it alive this long.
“I’ll take you outside,” Lucien offered.
She didn’t argue with him.
Lucien led her past the chained monster and toward the glass door. When he slid it open, she almost ran outside, but she managed to keep herself controlled.
The salty air hit her, as did the spray from the sea. Eagerly inhaling the fresh ocean air, she closed her eyes and savored the warmth of the sun spilling over her while she tasted the salt on her lips. It had been far too long since she was near the sea, and she relished the healing properties it emitted as she listened to the waves lapping against the shore.
Opening her eyes, she turned back to the room. Her eyes widened when she saw the creature’s back through the slats of the chair. Red and black coloring ran down the length of its spine. The small capillaries branching out in hundreds of different directions from that spine entwined through its skin before vanishing beneath its flesh.
Callie almost ran across the sand toward the others as she sought to flee this thing, but though its back was to them, she sensed it would somehow know she’d run from it. She wouldn’t give it another reason to laugh.
She wasn’t a coward, but she never wanted to be close to anything like it again. Unfortunately, Callie didn’t think she’d have a choice; she was determined to be a part of this battle, and that meant she would encounter demons and Savages again.
She didn’t want to back down from that thing, but she’d just become a vampire; she would give herself some time to adapt to her new world before plunging into it.
Lucien kissed her forehead as she settled into an empty chair at the table. He kept a smile in place and didn’t raise a hand to shield his eyes from the sun’s burning rays. She would only become concerned if he did, but its rays stung his skin and eyes in a way they never had before he killed Carter.
However, he would gladly take the uncomfortable sensations, and more, if it meant keeping her safe from assholes like Carter and Yannis and it would eventually fade.
“I’ll be back soon,” he promised.
Callie smiled reassuringly and squeezed his hand before releasing it. When she turned to watch him stalk back to the room, guilt tugged at her, and she almost rose to follow him.
He shouldn’t face this alone, but he wasn’t alone. He had his brothers with him, and he didn’t want her there. It would only be worse for him if she went after him.
Burying her guilt, she turned to face the other women and smiled as Kadence leaned over and rested her hand on top of Callie’s.
“Are you okay?” Kadence asked and squeezed Callie’s hand before releasing it.
“Yes,” Callie assured her before turning to Simone. “Lucien told me what you did. Thank you. I wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for you.”
Tears clogged her throat and burned her eyes as she pondered what almost happened, and what would have happened to Lucien if she died. She blinked them away. If she started crying, she wouldn’t stop, and now was not the time to become an emotional mess.
Simone’s pretty green eyes danced as she grinned at her. “I’m glad I could help.”
Settling back in her chair, Callie stared across the smooth sand to the flowing ocean. Usually, the briny scent of the sea and the soothing rhythm of the tide calmed her, but she couldn’t find any tranquility with that thing so close.
She turned to look back at the room.
“He’ll be okay,” Elyse said.
She faced the women again. “Will he?”
“They all will,” Kadence assured her.
“That thing….”
“It’s awful,” Elyse said when Callie couldn’t say anything more.
“It’s almost over,” Simone said.
“I hope so,” Callie murmured.
“We have to leave here soon,” Vicky said.
Callie seconded that sentiment; she wasn’t in a rush to die… again. She looked down at her chest, but her blue T-shirt covered the hole in her still healing flesh. She wanted to go home, heal, and spend time with Lucien before he plunged back into the war he’d waged for centuries.
And he would return to it soon. He’d spent far too much time away, regaining his strength and healing from his imprisonment.
But he was healed, she was a vampire, and they were mated. Now, nothing would hold him back, and once he returned to the war, she would spend her nights worrying about him. However, that was a concern for the future.
First, she had to get out of here. She tried not to let her imagination run away from her, but she couldn’t help picturing more of those hideous monsters creeping through the sand toward them.
She tilted her head back and closed her eyes as the sun warmed her. They wouldn’t come here in the daytime, or at least the demons and the worst of the Savages wouldn’t. They still had time, and they would be out of here soon.
Chapter Forty-Eight
Lucien returned to the room and closed the door behind him. He glanced at the others who remained stone-faced as they stared at the demon. Their faces were pinched, and their eyes remorseless.